The present invention relates to bottles particularly for aqueous, transparent or translucent heavy duty liquid laundry detergents comprising colorants. The bottles comprise f-dyes to protect the colorants present in the HDL or other composition from damage by harmful UV radiation.
Liquid detergents have traditionally been sold in opaque bottles. However, use of clear bottles can be aesthetically appealing to consumers as they can see the color of the product, its consistency, and suspended particles if they are present. Unfortunately, the use of clear bottles can lead to destruction of colorant in the product by UV light. By UV light is meant light having a wavelength of about 250 to about 460 nanometers (nm). Specifically, UVA wavelengths are generally in the range 320-400 nm, UVB wavelengths range from about 290 to 320 nm and UVC wavelengths range below 290 nm, down to about 250 nm.
It has been known in the art that UV absorbers can be added to the bottle material during manufacture of clear bottles to protect them from becoming brittle and to protect the ingredients inside the bottle. For instance, in GB 2228940, the use of a dicarboxylate in polyester bottles to protect contentsxe2x80x94mainly foodxe2x80x94from radiation of 320-360 nm wavelength is described.
In EP 461 537 the use of film formers for blocking UV radiation from passing through glass bottles is described. While use of such ingredients can block the transmission of UV light through clear bottles, UV absorbers for inclusion in bottle material are expensive, and must be added when the bottle material is hot and molten and there is a risk of burning the operator. ""537 mentions the treatment of the bottles with a delustering agent to reflect and diffuse harmful light at the surface.
WO 97/26315 discloses transparent containers with specific chromacity defined by x and y values. Blue or violet dyes are mentioned for the container and fluorescent blue or violet dyes are mentioned for the liquid.
GB 1,303,810 discloses clear liquid medium and visually defined particles suspended therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,042 to Verdier discloses a clear package containing liquids with a viscosity and clarity control system comprising urea, lower aliphatic alcohol and optional hydrotrope.
The present invention is directed to the use of fluorescent dye (F-dye) in a container, or in a label on a container, to reduce the destruction by UV light of colorant dye in a product held within the container. In accordance with the present invention, the level of additive may be small (0.001 to about 3%, especially from 0.05 to 0.5 wt. %). The use of f-dye has the advantage that is a relatively inexpensive ingredient frequently used in HDL""s and thus adds little additional cost to the package.
The present invention finds particular use in transparent or translucent containers. Preferably the container is a bottle.
The contents of the container may be consumer products such as light duty liquid detergents (hand dishwashing detergents), heavy duty detergents, automatic dishwashing gels, personal washing compositions, such as body washes, shampoos or fabric softeners. Particularly preferred are enzyme-containing transparent/translucent heavy duty liquids. The f-dye in the container is intended to protect against destruction of colorant dye in the product (e.g., caused by the light impacting dye molecules through the clear bottle).
For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following description of the preferred embodiments.